Automated manufacturing systems usually incorporate a machine vision system for locating an article's components in preparation for the components assembly. Typically, the article's quality is constrained by the precision with which the machine vision system can locate and thereby manipulate the article's components. Therefore, it is advantageous for a machine vision system to be able to locate an object with great precision.
Unfortunately, machine vision systems, like their biological counterparts, have physical limitations which hinder their ability to precisely determine the location of an object. In animals these limitations includes the number and sensitivity of the rods and cones in the eye. In machine vision systems the physical limitations include the number and sensitivity of discrete photoreceptors in the system's video camera.
Currently, a videocamera can be fabricated which comprises a large number of highly sensitive photoreceptors. Its cost, however, can be prohibitive. Low cost, low resolution videocameras are commercially available but they often cannot provide the precision that is needed. It would be advantageous, therefore, if objects could be located precisely with low resolution equipment.